Airport services on hold at Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport in July

June 20--The Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport will shut down for five days in July to repave the runway, a project initially planned to be carried out at the same time last year.

The airport will close from midnight July 10 through July 15 -- dates chosen by Alaska-Horizon Air service, said Airport Director Tony Bean.

"We've planned for it and let everyone know. We've pretty much just taken the airport out of the air space system for those five days," Bean said. "It's a common thing across America. It's a painful process but it's a necessary process."

The Federal Aviation Administration will pay 95 percent of the estimated $1.5 million project, leaving the airport to pay about $75,000 with passenger facility charges, Bean said. The airport closed for five days last July with the intent to fix cracks and repave the runway, but the project was put on hold because of a lack of long-term funding authority from Congress. With spending reauthorized earlier this year, the FAA can now pay the 95 percent initially agreed to.

The airport will be closed to all air traffic during the five-day window, including other tenants such as Medstar, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories and Interstate Aviation.

"It's critical that they get the runway finished in that five-day time period, that's all the time they have," Bean said. "So it's better for them to focus on it without worrying about any air traffic."

The airport will close at night through July 9 for simple crack repairs, which Bean said is a necessary measure before repaving with new asphalt. During the night shut downs, the airport will still work with Medstar to accommodate life flights in and out of the area.

After the runway is repaved, it will take 30 days to cure before it can be painted and grooved with a machine. Flights will still be able to depart and arrive safely after the five days of work are complete, Bean said.

"We've got to make sure we have a runway that will meet our needs until we do the realignment," he said. "With its condition in the last year, we're not going to be able to stretch it much longer ... it's a bad idea to save money that way."

Bean said repaving the runway this summer will get it through at least another decade, though it will eventually be altered significantly with the long-anticipated runway realignment project. In addition to adding about 400 feet to the existing 6,700-foot runway, the runway master plan includes shifting it several hundred feet and rotating it about 10 degrees to accommodate FAA regulations.

Kelli Hadley can be reached at (208) 882-5561, ext. 234, or by email to [email protected].

Copyright 2012 - Moscow-Pullman Daily News, Moscow, Idaho